Former Mandeville Mayor Eddie Price was hit with $5,500 in fines Friday for violating state campaign finance and disclosure laws, including personal use of campaign funds and an illegal loan his campaign made to one of his private companies.

Chuck Cook / The Times-PicayuneFormer Mandeville Mayor Eddie Price will be fined $1,000 more if he fails to file his campaign report within 30 days. He was photographed on the day he resigned last month.

The state Board of Ethics at its monthly meeting voted on two cases involving Price, who in October resigned as mayor and pleaded guilty in federal court to fraud and tax evasion. He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 28 in the federal case, but he did not appear at the Friday ethics board meeting.

The first ethics charge was for Price's failure to file a campaign finance disclosure report for the Feb. 9, 2008, election. Price's attorney has said those reports would not be filed until his other legal cases have been completed.

The board assessed Price a fine of $1,000, which was the maximum for his type of infraction. They also stipulated an additional $1,000 fine if he fails to file his campaign report within 30 days.

In the second case the ethics board approved a consent opinion, which is an agreement between the board and Price that he violated the law against personal use of campaign funds and should pay a $4,500 fine, less than the penalty provided in the ethics statute.

On his 2006 annual campaign finance report, Price noted a $3,300 loan dated Dec. 31, 2006, to Craftsmen Investments LLC, a company incorporated by Price and his partners Stephen Levee and Frank Stire in 2005. Price owns a 25 percent interest in Craftsmen, according to the ethics board agreement.

State law prohibits campaign funds from being loaned for any personal use unrelated to a political campaign or the holding of office. Craftsmen repaid the loan with checks dated in September and October 2007, the agreement said.

On the same 2006 campaign finance report, Price listed a campaign funds expenditure of $3,451 on Jan. 8, 2007, to MBNA of Mandeville for "gifts for golf tournament." The reference was to Price's credit card issued by banking company MBNA, according to the board agreement.

"Edward J. Price III failed to itemize the expenditures made with the MBNA credit card in connection with the golf tournament gifts," the agreement says. "Despite requests from the staff of the ethics administration, (Price) has not amended the campaign finance disclosure report to disclose an itemized list of the purchases made on the MBNA credit card."

Even after leveling that criticism, the board fined price below the minimum level state in ethics law and did not fine Price with a penalty corresponding to a "knowing and willful violation" of the law.

The statute that applies to the case says the violater "shall be assessed a penalty of not more than $5,000 or the amount of the violation, whichever is greater," and also allows a penalty of up to $10,000 or twice the amount of the infraction for a willful violation.

The board instead fined Price $3,500 for the loan and golf gift expenditures.

The board also fined Price $1,000 for his failure to disclose the loan and credit card golf gifts in a supplemental disclosure report.

Ethics administrator Kathleen Allen said Price had not yet paid the fines.

Price has had a steady diet of public relations and legal battles the past two years.

In March 2008 he admitted to accepting expensive gifts purchased with money from a Christmas toy charity. He later crashed through a Causeway tollbooth barrier but was let go by police officers even though he admitted he had been drinking.

In his federal case, a city engineering contractor and a local developer paid for Price's trips repeated trips to a golf tournament in Pebble Beach, Calif. He also used campaign funds to pay gambling debts. Separately, Price has been indicted on a state perjury charge.